Cooperatives

 The UPAVIM Cooperative

The mission of the Unidas Para Vivir Mejor (UPAVIM), meaning United to Live Better, Cooperative is to empower women in its community. First established in 1988, UPAVIM has approximately 80 members who live in marginalized communities on the outskirts of Guatemala City. Many are the sole providers of economic support for their families. The ambition of the cooperative is to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families by gaining access to education and employment opportunities. UPAVIM provides health and childcare services and personal and professional development programs to its members.
Proxy first visited the cooperative during the summer of 2008 and immediately fell in love this very impressive, hard-working, multi-talented and entrepreneurial cooperative of women. UPAVIM runs several businesses including sewing and craft businesses, as well as a small local bakery, soy-milk store, and small school and childcare facility.

                                 

UPAVIM Bakery                                                   UPAVIM Primary School

The UPAVIM Cooperative created the Soda-Pop Culture Belt and the Very Verano Shawl featured in Proxy's Fruition Collection. 

Mayan Hands

Mayan Hands is a fair trade organization that has been working with Mayan weavers since 1989 in the Guatemala Highlands. The organization currently supports over 200 weavers, organized in groups of twelve to fifteen women, living in eleven different communities around the western and northern highlands of Guatemala. While Mayan weavers are internationally renown as the world's most talented textile artists, most of them live in extreme poverty and earn no more than three to four dollars monthly. The mission of Mayan Hands is to assist these women in their quest to raise themselves out of poverty. Working within the conditions of fair trade, the women are able to count on a modest and consistent salary that enables their families to eat better, attend school, and improve their homes. Selling their handwoven textiles at a fair price, these women are gaining control over their lives.